The Richards family has milked cows at Baylham for over 75 years, supplying the local market with liquid milk. Grandma Richards used to make butter in an old wooden churn, but there are no records of her making cheese; there being no tradition of cheese making in Suffolk generally. Robin and Susan wanted to restore the link between milk production and dairy produce and decided to begin making cheese.

During 2005 Susan attended two cheese making courses and began designing a modern, fully equipped cheese making unit to fit into a redundant calf shed close by the farmhouse. While the building was being converted she regularly made cheese in her kitchen in a small 20 litre vat.

June 2006 saw the first cheese being made in the newly equipped dairy, Susan’s aim is to make high quality cheese using traditional methods. In October 2006, after numerous trials the first ‘Rodwell Farm Dairy’ cheese ‘Hawkston’ was ready for sale.Nine years later Hawston, Shipcord, Extra Mature Shipcord and Smoked Shipcord are produced every week.